Our Kitchen Rules (Sam's TV Series)
Our Kitchen Rules (abbreviated on social media as OKR and stylised on-screen as Our Kitchen Rules in sentence case) is a competitive cooking game show broadcast on Neon Entertainment since 2017. This show formerly broadcasted on the preceding channels Sam's Seven, Sam Wilkes Radio TV and Neon. Our Kitchen Rules was created by Austin Holahan, then named Sam Wilkes. This show is the oldest ongoing TV show that was on the channel Sam's Seven (later renamed to Sam Wilkes Radio TV then to Neon and then to Neon Entertainment). Celebrity and co-host Sam Wilkes Jr. has appeared on Our Kitchen Rules since Season 8 and Celebrity chef of over 44 years and co-host Lynette Tyler has appeared in every season in the show since 2012. Prior to this, Austin Holahan (who was the predecessor of Sam Wilkes Jr.) and Jason (who was the predecessor and successor of Lynette Tyler) took the positions as series judge. There were two judges on the show. All judges on the show are either experienced chefs or home cooks for at least 5 years up until 2012 when that rule was removed. The two original judges Robert & Alex began in 2010. The original judges lineup were phased out in 2012. The current two judges are Sam Wilkes Jr. and Lynette Tyler. Austin Holahan (credited as Sam Wilkes) and Jason were former replacement judges until they both resigned from this position in 2018 with a permanent resignation by 2019. The two series judges have been responsible for all challenges and judging across the series and as of 2018, the series introduced Jake who acts as a judge/mentor in the challenge and the elimination house. Before 2018, between 2013 - 2017, Colin was the judge/mentor in off-site and People's choice challenges. 2015 was the only year that OKR did not air on TV due to filming delays, significant problems with other projects and also because of personal reasons. In 2016, an announcement was made in regards with the reason why OKR did not air a new season in 2015 with the judges promising a new season in 2016 to make up for 2015. Sam has since provided an explanation as to why OKR did not broadcast in 2015. In 2018, under Sam Wilkes Jr's new leadership, OKR will line up with the Australian MKR. This new OKR/MKR line up merge means that the contestants on MKR will also be part of OKR. Series Judges remain unaffected by this merge. As part of a new merger strategy, all blind tasting panel judges in season 8 except Jake have been replaced with the MKR blind tasting panel judges. These judges will join Jake in the 2019 OKR season. Lyn and Sam Wilkes Jr. will continue as the series judges in 2019, along with Jake as a series judge during people's choice and off-site challenges. Since its first season, the program has continued to perform strongly in ratings, among the highest rated programs on Australian television, with finals consistently being among the 10 highest rated programs of the year. The series has been renewed for an additional two series in 2019, one as a regular OKR series and the other as an All-Stars series - featuring contestants from past seasons returning to the competition supposedly for a second attempt. The All-Stars series was later scrapped. In 2019, this is the series judge lineup: Sam Wilkes Jr. - Series Judge Lynette Tyler - Series Judge (Most Headquarters Challenges and all Instant Restaurants) Jake - Judge (People's Choice, Off-Site and selected Headquarters Challenges) Explanation of no 2015 OKR episodes In July 2018, Sam has answered the long awaiting question as to why there wasn't a 2015 season of OKR. He announced that the 2015 season was supposed to start recording in November 2014 but had to be on hold in December because of a holiday visit with extended family in Brisbane. Then the recording was again delayed to January 2015 but after a while, Lyn was planning to move back down to Brisbane, so recording stopped halfway through February 2015 to plan moving down to Brisbane and at this time, they were mirroring MKR, thus why Our Kitchen Rules did not air in 2015. Even if OKR began recording in the later half of 2015, the TV stations were being bought out by Sam Wilkes Radio Network in May, with the final transactions confirmed by 30 June 2015. Judging Panels * Series Judges – Celebrity chefs and co-hosts Sam Wilkes Jr. and Lynette Tyler have appeared since their debut season in the show. They have been responsible for all challenges and judging across the series. * Jake (Judge) – Making his first appearance as a series judge with Lynette Tyler in season 8, Jake joined the blind tasting panel for Sudden Death cook-offs. In seasons 8 and 9, Jake and Lyn had rotated roles for judging. Jake was present with Austin (with Sam Wilkes Jr. in season 9 after Austin resigned) for People's Choice and off-site challenges, while Lynette was involved in Headquarters challenges and later Instant Restaurants. Jake was also featured for the first time in an Instant Restaurant round in the same season. He is the remaining exclusive blind tasting panel judge on Our Kitchen Rules as the remaining judges are from the MJudges Original Generation: Robert: 1 February 2010 - 13 April 2011; 2 May 2018 - 6 May 2018 Alex: 1 February 2010 - 29 February 2012; 6 May 2018 2nd Generation: Sam Wilkes Holahan: 30 January 2012 - 18 April 2018, 2 May 2018 - 6 May 2018 Lyn: 1 March 2012 - 16 March 2016; 29 January 2018 - 28 April 2019 (series judge) 2 February 2020 - Present Day (judge/mentor) 3rd Generation: Jason: 21 March 2016 - 6 May 2018 Sam Wilkes Jr.: 18 April 2018 - Present Day Jake: 29 January 2018 - 6 May 2018 (series judge) 28 January 2019 - Present Day (judge/mentor) Others: Colin: 2013 - 2017 (mentor/secondary judge) TV Stations Broadcasted Sam's Seven (2010 - 2014) Sam Wilkes Radio TV (2016 - 2017) Neon Entertainment (2018 - Present Day) Sponsorships Coles was an sponsor for Our Kitchen Rules but after an incident on 26 February 2019, Coles will be delisted from both Proud Partner and Sponsorships at the end of 2019. In addition, Sam Wilkes Jr. has announced that Coles is on a 3 month ban as a result of the incident. This ban expired on 26 May 2019 but Coles was still delisted from Proud Partner and Sponsorships. Sam Wilkes Jr. entered in to talks with Woolworths to become the new proud partner. From 2020, Woolworths will become the new proud partner, replacing Coles who were proud partners with Our Kitchen Rules between 2010 and 2019.